Gastric cancer in the crosshairs for cancer care and prevention

Gastric Cancer Care Day was observed in Beijing Friday to focus on more care of patients suffering from the disease and efforts to prevent it.

Jointly launched by the China Anti-Cancer Association, Beijing Love Book Cancer Foundation (LBCF) and Roche Pharmaceuticals China, Nov 29 was marked as Gastric Cancer Care Day in an effort to spur the lowering of gastric cancer cases and deaths in a campaign with Healthy China 2030.

According to statistics from Globocan 2018, the number of new gastric cancer cases annually was ranked at third on the list of malignant tumors in the country. New cases last year numbered 456,000, with 390,000 deaths. A Chinese patient dies from this cancer every 1 to 2 minutes, on average.

Professor Ji Jiafu, president of Beijing Cancer Hospital, said lack of sleep, smoking, alcohol and a heavy diet may cause persistent stomach pain, vomiting, and even weight loss, and those with such symptoms should visit a doctor as soon as possible.

Chinese people are at high risk of gastric cancer but have little awareness of early diagnosis and treatment. The rate of early diagnosis of gastric cancer is no more than 20 percent, much lower than neighboring Japan (70 percent) and South Korea (50 percent).

According to professor Linghu Enqiang, director of gastroenterology physician of Chinese PLA General Hospital, gastric cancer caught early is not life-threatening and is curable, as the cancer can be removed with the help of a gastroscope. The five-year survival rate of gastric cancer caught early is as high as more than 90 percent.

Linghu urged groups at higher risk of the disease (such as those with a family history of gastric cancer and regional factors) to have regular gastric cancer screenings, and others to have the check based on their ages. He suggested people at 50 and older have an annual probe of their stomach.

In addition to stronger awareness among the public, medical institutes should make it their responsibility to do what they can in regards to disease prevention. "Lower class hospitals should play their role in screening and send possible cases to first class hospitals, which will then check the cases and give treatment," Linghu said, adding that optimizing medical resources helps reduce the chance of missing a diagnosis or making a wrong diagnosis.

Shi Anli, president of LBCF, urged a positive and optimistic mindset to fight against gastric cancer. Shi pledged more gastric cancer prevention and treatment, including making the public more aware, such as through education, as on Gastric Cancer Care Day.

Major cities like Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenyang also joined the public campaign on the same day. Online patient communities are expected to be established to provide more platforms to care for the patients.